Take the challenge with DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL

"DESIGN SQUAD, the Emmy Award-winning PBS KIDS website, is going GLOBAL! It’s launching during National Engineers Week, February 24th, on Global Day, when thousands of engineers and educators are pledging their time to lead kids in hands-on engineering activities. On Global Day, take the challenge and try a DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL hands-on activity! ..."

Take the challenge with DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL

DESIGN SQUAD, the Emmy Award-winning PBS KIDS website, is going GLOBAL! It’s launching during National Engineers Week, February 24th, on Global Day, when thousands of engineers and educators are pledging their time to lead kids in hands-on engineering activities. On Global Day, take the challenge and try a DESIGN SQUAD GLOBAL hands-on activity! Try these with friends or invent your own design.

Helping Hand: Design an “assistive device”—a tool with a long handle that lets you grab an object that’s hard to reach. As you design your Helping Hand, you will learn about real-world engineering: around the world, engineers have created assistive devices like wheelchairs, walkers, and prosthetic arms and legs that help make life better for people who are injured, disabled, or elderly.

Emergency Shelter: Design a shelter that’s sturdy and big enough to hold a person. Before you design the shelter, think about who might need a shelter, and why. Around the world, people seeking emergency shelter might be hikers or campers, homeless people, refugees, or people caught in a flood, hurricane, or other disaster. Decide who you want to design your shelter for—and think of what features would make a good shelter.

Seismic Shake-Up: Can you design a structure that can survive an earthquake? Test your structure on a shake table, a device engineers use to simulate the shaking of an earthquake. Hundreds of millions of people live in places around the world where earthquakes are common. That’s why earthquake engineering is so important. By designing buildings, bridges, and other structures that can withstand violent shaking, engineers save lives.

(Bonus: If you don't have a shake table see if you can make one. Or invent another way to test your structure!)